stobaeus



(No Model.)

J. B. STOBAEUS.

APPARATUS FOR REGULATING FLUID PRESSURE.

No. 379,667. Patented Mar. 20, 1888.

. m h w A \b W llrvrrn STATES JOHN B. STOBAEUS, OF NEWVARK, NEWV JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR REGULATING FLUID-PRESSURE.

QPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,667, dated March 20,1888.

(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. STOBAEUS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Regulating Fluid-Pressure, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for regulating fluid-pressure, and in particular to such as are used in keeping beer in kegs under a constant low pressure of carbonic-acid gas supplied from flasks contammg liquid carbonic acid under a high pressure. I have found that the operation of such apparatus is rendered uncertain and unreliable by particles of dirt entering the regulating-valve, or by carbonic-acid snow formed during the passage of the acid from the flask to the low-pressure chamber.

The object of my invention is to prevent those causes of unreliability; and it consists, essentially, in placing a permeable mass into the pipe leading from the flask to the regulating-valve, in placing awire-gauze diaphragm across the passage from the flask to the valve, and in a checkvalve connected with the dis charge-passage of the regulating-valve.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view showing part of a reducingvalve, together with the supply and discharge pipes of the same. Fig. 2 isan end view of the coupling to the left of Fig. I; Fig. 3, a section through x x of Fig. 1. Fig. at shows a piece of wire-gauze from which the coil, Fig. 5, is formed. Fig. 6 shows the apparatus connected with a carbonic-acid flask and with two kegs.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The reducingvalve shown in elevation in Fig. 6 and in part in Fig. l is of the construction shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 334, 714., dated January 19, 1886.

A represents the casing of the valve; B, the diaphragm; G, Fig. 6, the lower shell; 0, the low-pressure chamber formed by the casingA and the diaphragm B.

E is a hollow cross screwed into the casing A. One of its hollow arms, a, is threaded for the reception of the valve-plug D, which by its threaded socket e is connected with the supply-pipe p. The opposite arm, Z), contains the discharge-channel f. The hollow arm 0 leads into the low-pressure chamber 0, and to the hollow arm d a pressuregage, Q, is at tached. The valve-plug D has a narrow channel, 9, leading to the valve-nozzle 7c, the end face of which forms the valve-seat. Z is alever pivoted to the valve-plug at m, and containing the valve-disk.

One end of the supply-pipe 1), connecting the reducing-valve with the flask P, Fig. 6, is screwed into thevalve-plug D, while the other end is connected with the discharge-valve F of the flask by means of a union-joint consisting of the flanged end it of the pipe 1), the nut 02, and a corresponding threaded part on the eduction-valve F.

As shown in Fig. 1, the flanged end h of the pipe 1) is recessed for the reception of a lead washer, 2', into which a wire-gauze disk or diaphragm, j, is pressed, which acts asa strainer. The bore of the pipe 19 is narrowed at the end entering the plug D, and into the remaining wider part of the bore is inserted a core of coiled wire-gauze, w. (Shown in perspective in Fig. 5.) It is made by closely coiling a square piece of wire-gauze, n, Fig. 4. This wire-gauze coil is a coherent permeable mass acting as a filter to prevent the passage of dirt into the reducing-valve, and it likewise pre vents the formation of carbonic-acid snow by giving up its stored heat in case of a sudden rush of gas, and taking up or restoring heat from the atmosphere through the pipe p under ordinary circumstances, when little or no gas is passing through.

To prevent the passage of dirt into the valvechamber through the discharge-channelj, I provide a check-valve formed of a rubber band, 1-, stretched across the outer end of the channel f, and secured by a wire, 8, or by any other suitable means.

Fig. 1 shows the rubber distended by the pressure of the gas, so as to allow the gas to pass through laterally, the rubber band being not much wider than the bore of the channel f. Vhen the pressure is taken off, the band contracts and covers the opening and prevents backfiow, which might cause dirt to enter the valve-chamber.

The end of the arm I) to which the checkvalve is secured is threaded and receives a cap or reducer, i, into which ahose-connection, q, is screwed. This connecting-piece q may be branched, as shown in Fig. 6, so as to afford means for connecting several kegs, H I, with the same flask, 1?, through rubber tubes to.

The valves used for regulating the supply of carbonic'acid gas at a pressure of a few pounds from flasks containing liquid carbonic acid under a pressure of from six hundredjto twelve hundred pounds have necessarily very narrow passages, and small particles of dirt or of carbonic-acid snow are apt to obstruct the passages, or, what is more dangerous, to prevent the closing of the valve, thus subjecting the kegs to excessive pressure. By the above-described improvements these difficulties are avoided and the apparatus for regulating fluidpressure is made perfectly reliable. Should the permeable mass in the pipe 1) become clogged, the pipep can be readily removed and exchanged or a new filter placed into the same.

I am aware that prior to my invention gasregulators have been provided with filtering boxes or receptacles for loose material, such as charcoal, lime, pumice-stone, and hemp or other fibrous material, through which the gas passes on its way to the regulator. Such arrangement, however, is not suitable for app-a.- ratus which regulate the flow of gas from a very high pressure, like that of liquid carbonic acid, to a space where a pressure of a few pounds is to be maintained. The great difference of pressure to be maintained by the valve would soon either cause a channel or channels to be formed in loose material used for filtering, or, if soft fibrous material .should be used, it would be compressed. Such channels cannot be formed in a coherent permeable mass, such as wiregauze; neither can it be compressed so as to close up.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a fluid-pressure regulator and its supply and discharge pipes, of a coil of metal gauze placed within the supply-pipe and a check-valve consisting of a rubber band stretched across the dischargechannel, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of a receptacle for liquefied gas, an eduction-valve, apressnre-regulator, a pipe connecting the reduction-valve with the regulator, a coherent permeable mass placed Within this connecting pipe, and a check-valve in the dischargepipe of the regulator, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination of the receptacle P, for liquefied gas, the ed notion-valve F, the pipep, wire-gauze diaphragm j, wire-gauze coil' 20, placed within the pipep, a fluid-pressure regulator, and a rubber check-valve, r, in the dischargechannel f, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony that Iclaim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in the presence of two witnesses, this 23d day of August, 1886.

JOHN B. STOBAEUS.

Witnesses:

G. H. METZGER, CHAS. BAUDER. 

